Cora
Cora, also known as the Queen of Hearts, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. She débuts in the seventeenth episode of the first season. She is portrayed by guest stars Barbara Hershey, Jennifer Koenig, and Rose McGowan, and does not have a Storybrooke counterpart. Cora is based on the Miller's Daughter from the fairytale, "Rumpelstiltskin", and the Queen of Hearts from the novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. History Before Curse Cora works in a tavern to provide for herself and meets a man called Jonathan, who is posing as a prince to woo her. He proposes using a ring of straw and promises to turn it into gold. Prior to his leaving, they consummate the marriage. Two months later, Cora discovers he is nothing but a gardener at the royal estate. He doesn't care that Cora is pregnant with his child, and when she calls for someone to take him away, he hits her over the head and flees. She is found by Prince Leopold and later shows him how to start a campfire. As they bond, Leopold tells her about his engagement to a princess, Eva, but decides to marry Cora instead. Before they are wedded, Jonathan threatens to reveal his past relationship with Cora as well her current pregnancy unless she provides him with riches. Before she can fulfill the deal, Eva, having overheard the conversation, exposes the truth to Leopold. Caught, Cora's marriage to him is severed and she is taken away by guards.("Bleeding Through") During a storm, Cora abandons her first-born child to a passing cyclone. The infant is then whisked away to another world. ("It's Not Easy Being Green") One morning, she sees her drunken father collapsed outside their flour mill. Fed up with his behavior, she goes to deliver the supply of flour to the castle of King Xavier herself. After passing into the entrance, Cora hauls the flour bags by hand, but is tripped by a familiar face, Princess Eva. Blamed for ruining the princess' shoes, she is forced, on King Xavier's command, to apologize. In the evening, Cora steals a red dress and mask to attend a royal party where King Xavier's son, Henry, must find a bride. She briefly waltzes with Henry before King Xavier steps in to warn her against trying to reach above her station. Insulted, Cora claims she can spin straw into gold and save the kingdom. King Xavier takes her claims seriously, stating if Cora can spin all the straw in the tower into gold, she will have Henry's hand in marriage, or will face execution upon failure. Cora's lie comes back to bite her when she desperately looks for a way out of the tower, but cannot find one. Out of thin air, a man named Rumplestiltskin appears to help her for a price. He will spin the straw into gold for her if she forfeits her first born child to him. She agrees to his terms, but only if he teaches her how to spin gold. Rumplestiltskin explains that she must channel her anger into magic. They find likenesses in each other, as he was once publicly humiliated and sought revenge for it, while she envisions doing the same for the people who scorned her. Later, after practicing with Rumplestiltskin, Cora successfully spins gold in front of the royal court, and earns Henry's hand in marriage. On the day before her wedding, Cora realizes wealth and power are not what she truly desires anymore. Instead, she wishes to have the love Rumplestiltskin has given her. Rumplestiltskin agrees to change their previous deal so any child he and Cora have will he his. She readily agrees to this, but firstly wants to learn how to rip out King Xavier's heart. They plan to meet under the courtyard tree in the evening after she has finished this task. Cora goes to King Xavier's chambers to admit to him that she does not love Henry. King Xavier has knowledge of Cora's romance with Rumplestiltskin, and offers a chance to runaway with her lover or stand beside Henry as a royal of power. He teaches her the phrase, "Love is weakness", causing Cora to realize that even having a heart is a liability that will keep herself from gaining power. Rather than take out his heart, she tears out her own and places it into a box. She arrives in the courtyard with it, and admits to Rumplestiltskin what has been done. Cora confirms she had to for the sake of doing whatever it takes to reach the top. However, Rumplestiltskin misunderstands and thinks she never actually loved him. When he demands payment for their deal, Cora tearfully reminds him the terms were changed, and any child she has won't be his. Months later, she gives birth to a daughter, Regina, and presents her to the royal court. Cora declares that Regina shall be queen one day. ("The Miller's Daughter") When Regina blossoms into a young woman of marriageable age, Cora resolves to set into motion a series of pre-planned events that will lead her daughter into being crowned a Queen. She poisons the current queen, Eva, to make the Queen's seat vacant. Eva's only daughter, Snow White, is desperate for a way to save her dying mother from the illness and goes to seek out the Blue Fairy. Cora cloaks herself as the Blue Fairy to advise her to use a magic candleto take away the life of another person in order to save Eva. Ultimately, Snow White can't bear to go through with it, and Eva succumbs to death shortly after. After Eva's mourning ceremony, Cora approaches to have a look at her nemesis' body. She promises to destroy her legacy and make Snow White's heart as black as coal. ("The Queen Is Dead") One day, Cora watches Regina during a horse riding demonstration. While her husband Henry is proud of their daughter, Cora finds it disdainful that Regina is riding without a saddle. She also is critical of the fact their daughter has yet to marry. The stable boy, Daniel, approaches to offer Regina a saddle, but she is too upset at Cora's words and snaps at him. As she tries to walk away, Cora traps her in place with magic while Henry is helpless to do anything. Regina pleads that she will be good, and only then Cora release her grip. In the second part of her scheme to make her daughter the Queen, she sets up a riding lesson for Regina at the stables. Then, she tracks down King Leopold's party, including Snow White, in the woods while they are passing throughout the kingdom. Cora agitates the horse Snow White is currently saddled on, which sends the animal running amok onto the nearby land where Regina rescues the young girl from harm. Regina's feat attracts the attention of King Leopold, as Cora predicted, and he proposes to her. While Regina is too surprised and confused, Cora accepts on her behalf. Snow White comes to their home to spend time with Cora, who expresses an eagerness to do what's best for Regina, and is willing to do anything to make her happy. Additionally, she doesn't want to lose her daughter. These words deeply touch Snow White, and she cannot help but think Cora means well. Out of concern for them, Snow White reveals that Regina does not want to marry her father because she is in love with someone else. Cora is surprised, but urges her on. She learns Regina has fallen in love and plans to run away with Daniel. Cora confronts them in the stables and is furious Regina is giving everything up for a mere stable boy. After a small struggle, Cora seems to understand Regina is truly in love, and the two reconcile with a hug. She also embraces Daniel, admitting a parent always wants what is best for their child, and then rips out his heart. Cora crushes it and kills Daniel as a grief-stricken Regina witnesses everything. She consoles her daughter by stating that love is an illusion, and though it may feel real now, the only thing Regina needs in the end is power, which can get her anything without having to rely on anyone. During a fitting for a wedding dress, Regina calmly asks Cora if she is responsible for orchestrating the incident with the wild horse so King Leopold would notice her. Cora denies knowing anything about it. As Regina walks off, she openly blames Snow White for ruining her future with Daniel. ("The Queen Is Dead", "The Stable Boy") As the wedding looms nearer, Regina attempts to escape the impending marriage on horseback, but is cut off by Cora's spell. She also makes it known there is a barrier spell to keep Regina from leaving prior to the wedding. Regina insists that she does not wish to marry King Leopold and favors freedom above anything else. Cora says power is''freedom, and tries to comfort her with the knowledge she will be there to guide Regina down the right path. During one night, Regina steals Cora's spell book from right underneath a pillow as her mother is fast asleep and accidentally summons Rumplestiltskin. The Dark One gives Regina a looking glass to get rid of Cora. On the wedding day, Cora notices the clothed mirror and pulls it off. While Cora excitedly talks about her daughter's future role as Queen, Regina once again voices that she doesn't wish for any of that. As Regina attempts to push her mother into the looking glass, Cora restrains her with magic. She knows Regina's intentions of getting rid of her, and is not having any of it, but remains unaware that Rumplestiltskin appears in the mirror to urge the latter to do what must be done. Gathering strength in anger, Regina breaks free and uses magic for the first time, causing Cora to fly towards the looking glass. She manages to hang on for a brief moment with a look of surprise and sadness on her face before slipping through the mirror, which shatters into pieces. ''("We Are Both") Through the looking glass, Cora lands in the realm of Wonderland and rises to power as the Queen of Hearts. After receiving an invitation to the upcoming wedding of the Red King, she shows up at the royal castle to greet the soon-to-be Red Queen, Anastasia. As they casually talk, Cora manifests vases of roses hall, despite that she knows the Red King dislikes magic since he believes it separates them from their subjects. Seeing Anastasia's likeness to herself, as Cora came from humble beginnings as well, she offers to teach her magic without the Red King's knowledge. Anastasia declines, not wishing to start a marriage with a secret, to which Cora departs, or so it appears. She eavesdrops on a conversation the future Queen has with a former beau, Will, who pleads for Anastasia to meet him at their old wagon and run away together. The next morning, Cora sabotages any reconciliation between the two lovers by telling Will that Anastasia decided to marry the Red King. As he expresses a longing hope that his beloved, in time, would've changed her mind and returned to him, she gently pushes him to give up. Cora consoles him, stating that he helped Anastasia realize her calling as a Queen, and now is the time to move on. When prompted with a request to take out his heart, she warns him of the consequences, but he insists. Once the task is done, she sends him off from the wagon and pockets the heart in a bag. Later, Cora stops Anastasia from leaving the castle for her sweetheart by giving the girl a glimpse at the wagon where Will is nowhere in sight. She manipulates a heatbroken Anastasia into believing all hope of regaining Will's trust and love is forever lost, and that her place is as a Queen. Eventually, Cora teaches her how to conjure fire by channeling all the unworthiness she feels as a person into power, to which Anastasia successfully uses magic. ("Heart of the Matter") Cora kidnaps her husband, Henry, and shrinks him in size while trapping him in one of the boxes in a vault. Regina comes to rescue her father with the help of a portal-jumper, Jefferson, by using a magic hat to travel between worlds. They steal back Henry, but Regina paralyzes Jefferson so he is left behind while she and her father return to the Enchanted Forest. He is captured by the guards and brought before the audience of the Queen of Hearts. While her face is completely obscured, she does not directly speak to him, and instead talks into a tube for the Knave of Hearts to communicate her messages to Jefferson. She is extremely displeased that he helped Regina steal from her. Jefferson calls Regina "the Queen", Cora cuts him off with a stomp, prompting the Knave of Hearts to ask him to refrain from referring to that woman by such a name. When questioned about how he came to Wonderland, Jefferson doesn't answer, and instead asks if it's possible for him to go home to his daughter after he tells them. Annoyed at his response, she orders for his head to be taken off. Only after losing his body, yet still being alive, Jefferson confesses that his hat brought him to Wonderland, but Regina took it away. On behalf of Cora, the Knave of Hearts commands him to make another hat so he can leave this world for his homeland. ("Hat Trick") Cora meets another intruder garbed in pirate clothes who is brought to her for an interrogation. Once again, she does not show her face, hiding it with a mask, and uses the long tube to ask questions while the Knave of Hearts announces them for the pirate to answer. She wants to know why he is in Wonderland. He confirms to be looking for a woman by the name of Cora. Lowering her mask, Cora remarks that in this land, she goes by "Your Majesty", and then dismisses all her subjects so the two of them can be alone. After learning the pirate's name is Hook, she notices he has a corpse of dead man with him. Based on the rules of the portal-jumping hat, he is obviously going to take someone else back. Hook moves to tear out her heart, but nothing happens. Cora scoffs at his failed attempt since the heart is not in her chest. She plunges her hand to grab hold of Hook's heart, threatening to pull it out, unless he tells her who sent him. As he gasps in pain, Hook admits the Evil Queen wants her dead. Momentarily, Cora is fazed by the news, but forces him to tell her everything. After he is done, she lets go and returns to sit upon her throne. Cora orders Hook to aide her in returning to the Enchanted Forest, but wants his full and willing cooperation as she can give him what he desire most--Rumplestiltskin's life. She informs him of the ramifications of her daughter's curse will bring everyone to a new land, but everyone affected will lose their memories. Cora promises to allow Hook the opportunity to kill Rumplestiltskin and also keep his memories intact. Hook returns to the Enchanted Forest with Cora's body. She feigns being dead; intending to get close enough to Regina to rip out her heart as payback for the attempted assassination. However, Cora has a change of heart when Regina sadly professes that there was no choice to but do away with her mother as she is one of her weaknesses. She recalls what Cora taught her, that love is weakness, and therefore, Regina wants to leave this emotion behind before going to the new land. She places a rose on Cora's chest and then leaves to cast the Dark Curse. Directly after, Cora recognizes her daughter still loves her, and instead she and Hook travel to an island as the curse is spreading. Once there, she casts a barrier to protect the inhabitants on corner of the island, as well as themselves, from being affected by the curse. Cora informs Hook that they will both be frozen for the next twenty-eight years until the savior breaks the curse and frees them. When the time comes, she plans to go to Regina in her greatest moment of need. ("Queen of Hearts") Trivia *The name "Cora" is of Greek origin derived from the name "Korë" that means "maiden". It is also another name for the Greek goddess Persephone.[1][2] *Her name is a reference to the Latin word for heart,[3] "cor".[4] *Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz revealed in the podcast for "Queen of Hearts" that it was actually Barbara Hershey who voiced the Queen of Hearts in the episode "Hat Trick", in which Jennifer Koenig portrayed the character.[5] *Before Rumplestiltskin was imprisoned, he fought Cora and won. It is implied that she came close to winning. ("Into the Deep") *The mask she holds resembles the baton that the Queen of Hearts carries in the Disney film Alice in Wonderland.("Queen of Hearts") References #↑ http://www.behindthename.com/name/cora #↑ http://www.behindthename.com/name/kore12 #↑ Once Upon a Time - Behind the Magic - Page 165. London: Titan Books, October 2013 #↑ http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cor#Latin #↑ http://www.datgpodcast.abc.com/podcast/a_onceuponatime/OUT_CHAPTER12_S2.mp3 Category:Characters Category:Series Characters Category:Once Upon a Time